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While energy deals provided bulk and value, it was Anthropic that provided the headlines for Texas lawyers with a special purpose vehicle designed to help fund $63 billion in compute from Anthropic's major vendor.
Kirkland and Gibson Dunn advised on the $13 billion all-stock deal to create the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. Both companies hold substantial Appalachian assets poised to supply natural gas for power to the largest concentration of data centers in the world.
In a week where there were no discernible data center deals and the power transactions were limited to a single deal for wind farms, the M&A legal market had a different look. Capital markets deals, however, were no where to be found.
Kirkland & Ellis advised Dallas-based Arctos in the addition of the Falcons to its portfolio of NFL-approved minority investments. In addition to Atlanta, the KKR-backed sports investor now has ownership positions in Cleveland, Los Angeles and Buffalo. League rules limit private equity ownership to 10 percent or less.
Kirkland & Ellis advised Ares with a national team that includes a dozen Texas lawyers. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett counseled KKR with a team of New York attorneys.
The week that ended Oct. 17, dipped back below the yearly average with just seven deals valued at $3.6 billion. One of the deals included dozens of lawyers from across the country: but just one from Texas.
Davis Polk provided counsel to a Bumble special committee from New York, Washington, D.C. and London. Houston employee benefits partner Justin Coddington was the lone Texas attorney on a Kirkland & Ellis national team of about three dozen lawyers that advised Ithaca Holdings.
In an era when lawyers are changing teams with the frequency of SEC linebackers, a large contingent of Dallas-based lawyers at Norton Rose Fulbright have been staying put for decades. Like lawyers on-the-move, they cite 'culture' as their reason for staying; but offering the credibility of decades in the same office of the same firm, these lawyers may actually mean it.
The 11 deals valued at $16.4 billion reported last week amounted to an average week on the year. But as the second highest value since early August, it may be a signal that uncertain deal markets are returning to 'normal' — whatever that is in a topsy-turvy year.
Texas lawyers expect a busy final three months of 2026, according to panelists at the UT Law M&A Institute on Thursday.
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